Facebook today announced changes to the way it reports user counts for apps that integrate with its platform, providing a ranking and a user tier rather than monthly active and daily active users rounded to the nearest ten-thousand, as it did previously.

Monthly active user tiers are 10,000; 50,000; 100,000; 500,000; up to 10 million. Daily active user tiers are the same but stop at 1 million. These caps mean that an app with 11 million MAU and an app with 45 million MAU will both be reported in the 10 million tier, with only their ranking number to distinguish between them.

Facebook reports these figures in its App Center, within search results and via its API. The insights developers receive about their own apps will not change. This just affects what information is publicly available to other developers and non-developers. The change goes into effect on Jan. 16.

Although Facebook is taking away some transparency, this puts it more at par with how Apple, Amazon and Google display app rankings. Apple and Amazon’s app stores rank apps by category but do not share any download or usage numbers. Google Play ranks apps and offers a range for installs: 1,000-5,000; 5,000-10,000; 10,000-50,000; and so on. However, Google Play seems to go up to 500 million installs, rather than capping its tiers at a lower number to obfuscate the data.
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Zynga’s Bubble Safari Ocean takes the No. 1 spot on our list of top Facebook apps growing by monthly active users this week with 22 percent gain.

Titles on our list gained the most MAU of any apps on the platform, growing from between 300,000 and 4.2 million MAU, based on our AppData tracking service.

Rovio’s cross-platform game Angry Birds Star Wars had 25 percent gain this week and came in at No. 6.

No. 8 Yelp had 5 percent growth to reach 13.7 million MAU, getting back to numbers it last saw in August 2012. The app slumped in the second half of 2012 after peaking at 15.6 million MAU in May that year.
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Page tab customization app Static HTML… [Ninth Tab] led our list of emerging Facebook applications by monthly active users this week with 153 percent gain.

We define emerging applications as those that ended with between 100,000 and 1 million MAU in the past week. This week’s top apps grew between 110,000 and 460,000 MAU, based on AppData, our data tracking service covering traffic growth for apps on Facebook.

BO.LT debuted at No. 4, picking up 219,000 MAU. The app is a Pinterest-esque site where users can share and save items from around the web.

Mobile app integrations were also popular this week. No. 5 Circle – Find Nearby Friends for Android and iOS helps users locate their friends and discover new people nearby. No. 6 WhatsApp is a cross-platform messaging app that has been on our list for a few weeks, as has No. 7 Flickr with its new iPhone app.

No. 10 Tango is a free app that lets users make free calls and texts. No. 13 MyFitnessPal is available for iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone. No. 14 Viddy is slowly rising after plummeting from a peak of nearly 37 million MAU in mid-2012.

No. 19 Smule offers a number of music-themed iOS apps, and No. 20 Appsfire is an app discovery app for iOS.

See the full list of emerging apps after the jump.

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Instagram takes the No. 1 spot on our list of top non-game Facebook apps growing by monthly active users this week with 5 percent gain. The app recently became the most popular app overall on the Facebook platform.

Titles on our list gained the most MAU of any non-game apps on the platform, growing from between 200,000 and 2.1 million MAU, based on our AppData tracking service.

No. 2 Amazon got a 25 percent bump, likely related to the holiday shopping season. Mobile integrations from Nokia, HTC Sense and Facebook for Windows Phone could be up in part because of people getting new devices as gifts.

Chat apps ooVoo, WhatsApp and WeChat are gaining in popularity. And navigation app Waze had a 9 percent increase to close our list at No. 20. Earlier today it was reported that Apple could be looking to acquire Waze to help with its Maps application.
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The Facebook-owned mobile photo sharing app Instagram is the No. 1 most popular app in terms of monthly active users logging in with Facebook.

One year ago, Instagram had only 3 million Facebook-connected MAU. Now it has more than 44.8 million MAU, first taking the No. 1 spot on Dec. 29, as it surged and FarmVille 2 and TripAdvisor™ declined.

Off-Facebook integrations, including web, mobile and desktop apps, have gained significantly over the past year. Eleven of the top 25 apps exist completely outside of the Facebook chrome, and five of Zynga’s games on the list have versions that are playable on Zynga.com rather than Facebook.

Games and apps within the Facebook canvas don’t dominate the charts as they did in year’s past. For example, one year ago Static HTML: iframe tabs was the No. 1 app with more than 58 million MAU. That app isn’t even in the top 25 any more after Facebook eliminated the option for pages to set custom apps as the default landing tab.

See more popular apps and browse by category by visiting AppData.

Name MAU 1.  Instagram 44,808,894 2.  FarmVille 2 43,500,000 3.  TripAdvisor™ 34,293,922 4.  Texas HoldEm Poker 34,000,000 5.  Microsoft Live 26,000,000 6.  I want to add your birthday 25,500,000 7.  Spotify 24,600,000 8.  Candy Crush Saga 23,500,000 9.  Bing 23,300,000 10.  schoolFeed 23,100,000 11.  I want to add your birthday 22,800,000 12.  Yahoo! Social Bar 22,300,000 13.  Diamond Dash 21,600,000 14.  Samsung Mobile 21,500,000 15.  ChefVille 20,900,000 16.  Pinterest 20,500,000 17.  Bubble Safari 19,400,000 18.  Bubble Safari Ocean 19,100,000 19.  Scribd 17,800,000 20.  Dragon City 17,600,000 21.  Skype 17,200,000 22.  Bubble Witch Saga 16,700,000 23.  Nokia 16,700,000 24.  CityVille 2 15,900,000 25.  Static Iframe Tab 15,400,000

Facebook shares fell 2.9 percent this morning following a report from the New York Post that Instagram had lost about a quarter of its daily active users. The stock started to recover as outlets began to poke holes in the Post’s story, but shares closed down 0.53 percent percent from Thursday.

The Post claimed that users were ditching the photo sharing app because of “outrage” over terms of service changes last week. The article cites AppData numbers, pointing out that Instagram peaked at 16.4 million DAU the week it proposed its new policy and then fell to 12.4 million as of Thursday. The Post did not make it clear that AppData counts only users who have connected Instagram with their Facebook account. Many users keep the services separate. In the past we’ve seen between 20 and 30 percent of Instagram users connecting with Facebook. The majority of Instagram usage is therefore not reflected in the numbers the Post cited.

The Post also doesn’t say is that the timing of the drop does not line up with when the terms of service issues were raised. The actual decline begins on Dec. 24, but the terms of service questions began on Dec. 17. In fact, Instagram announced that it would revert to its original advertising policy on Dec. 21. What’s more likely is that the Christmas holiday led to different usage patterns as people were traveling and experiencing different daily routines. We’ve seen similar trends among other applications, such as Pinterest, Skype, Pandora and Yelp this week.

Instagram also saw a dip in Facebook-connected DAU over Thanksgiving, and that turned out to be a record day for the service. Instagram had 15.1 million Facebook-connected DAU on Nov. 20 and 14.5 million DAU on the holiday Nov. 22, yet Instagram reported that it had the most photos shared in its history that day.

Instagram has not revealed how many photos were shared over Christmas, but refuted claims that its usage was declining.

“We continue to see strong and steady growth in both registered and active users of Instagram,” the company said in a statement.

Zynga’s Bubble Safari Ocean comes in at the No. 1 spot on our list of top growing Facebook apps by monthly active users this week. The game, which is a follow-up to Bubble Safari, launched last week and has reached 4.4 million MAU.

Titles on our list gained the most MAU of any apps on the platform, growing from between 400,000 and 4.28 million MAU, based on our AppData tracking service.

Top Gainers This Week

Name MAU Gain Gain % 1.  Bubble Safari Ocean 4,400,000 +4,280,000   + 3,567% 2.  Causes 10,000,000 +2,900,000   + 41% 3.  Videos! 4,300,000 +2,100,000   + 95% 4.  schoolFeed 22,600,000 +1,700,000   + 8% 5.  Megapolis 3,000,000 +1,500,000   + 100% 6.  I want to add your birthday 22,300,000 +1,400,000   + 7% 7.  Instagram 43,000,000 +1,100,000   + 3% 8.  JibJab 3,600,000 +900,000   + 33% 9.  Phrases 4 Fun 1,700,000 +790,000   + 87% 10.  CastleVille 10,900,000 +700,000   + 7% 11.  Dragon City 17,400,000 +600,000   + 4% 12.  Stormfall: Age of War 2,100,000 +600,000   + 40% 13.  Diamond Dash 20,900,000 +600,000   + 3% 14.  Candy Crush Saga 23,200,000 +500,000   + 2% 15.  Static HTML… [Third Tab] 2,900,000 +500,000   + 21% 16.  Ruzzle 1,400,000 +500,000   + 56% 17.  Amazon 3,200,000 +500,000   + 19% 18.  Static HTML… [Eleventh Tab] 840,000 +450,000   + 115% 19.  HTC Sense 10,000,000 +400,000   + 4% 20.  TopFace 2,800,000 +400,000   + 17%

All data in this post comes from our traffic tracking service, AppData. Stay tuned for our look at the top weekly gainers by daily active users on Thursday, and the top emerging apps on Friday.

Washington Post Social Reader led our list of emerging Facebook applications by monthly active users this week reaching 600,000 total MAU after the publisher launched a web version of the app rather than limiting it to within Facebook — similar to what the Guardian did last week as well. Readers can use Facebook login on SocialReader.com to share their activity with friends.

We define emerging applications as those that ended with between 100,000 and 1 million MAU in the past week. This week’s top apps grew between 90,000 and 250,000 MAU, based on AppData, our data tracking service covering traffic growth for apps on Facebook.

Other news apps on the list this week were No. 5 Fox News and No. 18 The Independent.

No. 8 WhatsApp is on the rise after rumors that Facebook was interested in buying the service.

No. 12 Flickr doubled its MAU after launching a slick new iOS app and further benefiting from Instagram’s botched terms of service update which drove some users to Flickr instead.

A few holiday themed apps also placed this week: No. 7 PNP – Portable North Pole, No. 14 My Christmas Tree 2012 and No. 15 My Year In Status.
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Birthdays takes the No. 1 spot on our list of top non-game Facebook apps growing by monthly active users this week with 9 percent gain. Similar birthday reminder applications came in at No. 6 and No. 12.

Titles on our list gained the most MAU of any non-game apps on the platform, growing from between 300,000 and 11.4 million MAU, based on our AppData tracking service.

Photo apps were popular this week with No. 4 Photo Contest, No. 9 Photo Love, No. 10 Mis Fotos, No. 16 Photo Roll and No. 17 PhotoMania.

No. 2 Instagram, No. 3 Yahoo! Social Bar and No. 20 Identified all use Facebook Open Graph to share user activity and grow their apps.

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City-building game Megapolis led our list of emerging Facebook applications by monthly active users this week reaching 770,000 total MAU.

We define emerging applications as those that ended with between 100,000 and 1 million MAU in the past week. This week’s top apps grew between 90,000 and 480,000 MAU, based on AppData, our data tracking service covering traffic growth for apps on Facebook.

Top Gainers This Week

Name MAU Gain Gain % 1.  Megapolis 770,000 +480,000   + 166% 2.  My Christmas Tree 2012 520,000 +240,000   + 86% 3.  PNP – Portable North Pole 770,000 +210,000   + 38% 4.  Mis Fotos 380,000 +200,000   + 111% 5.  Legends: Rise of a Hero 470,000 +190,000   + 68% 6.  My Photos+ 940,000 +190,000   + 25% 7.  Fox News 170,000 +167,000   + 5,567% 8.  The Fan Machine 790,000 +150,000   + 23% 9.  SkillPages 740,000 +140,000   + 23% 10.  Wordox 960,000 +140,000   + 17% 11.  Amazon Sweepstakes 220,000 +130,000   + 144% 12.  Any.DO 240,000 +130,000   + 118% 13.  Marketland 730,000 +130,000   + 22% 14.  KartWorld 920,000 +130,000   + 16% 15.  Wrapp 650,000 +110,000   + 20% 16.  Ruzzle 780,000 +110,000   + 16% 17.  Glimpse by TheFind 490,000 +100,000   + 26% 18.  Cupid 670,000 +100,000   + 18% 19.  Pool Billiard 870,000 +100,000   + 13% 20.  Amores Ideales 130,000 +90,000   + 225%

With the holiday approaching, Christmas apps My Christmas Tree 2012 and PNP – Portable North Pole took the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively.

No. 7 Fox News is back up to 170,000 MAU after a period of inactivity.

No. 11 Amazon Sweepstakes reached 220,000 MAU during its Naughty or Nice Giveaway, which ended Thursday. Five first prize winners will get $10,000.00 in Amazon.com gift cards and diamond earrings. Another five second prize winners will also get $10,000 gift cards but instead of the earrings, they’ll get a lump of coal.

No. 12 Any.DO is a web and mobile app help people manage tasks and get reminders about things they have to do.

Some social commerce apps are on the rise this shopping season. No. 15 Wrapp is a mobile gifting app where users can give gift cards to their friends. No. 17 Glimpse by TheFind is an Open Graph app where users can browse items based on what they and their friends have Liked. Users can share items they “glimpse” and save to their catalogues.

All data in this post comes from our traffic tracking service, AppData. Stay tuned next week for our look at the top weekly gainers by monthly active users on Monday, the top weekly gainers by daily active users on Wednesday, and the top emerging apps on Friday.